The Congress on Thursday changed its nominee at the last hour for the Bihar Legislative Council poll, as its candidate Tariq Anwar’s name was not found in the voters list.
His candidature was replaced by working president of the State unit of the party Sameer Kumar Singh, who later filed his nomination papers..
Mr. Anwar’s name was finalised by the party late on Wednesday night.
Under the ‘mahagathbandhan’ alliance in the State, the Congress has just one candidate for the poll, scheduled to be held on July 6 for nine seats.
The party had received over 3,000 applications for the lone seat.
Mr. Anwar was with the Nationalist Congress Party before rejoining the Congress recently. He had been a Rajya Sabha member. He had also been the party MP from the Katihar Lok Sabha constituency several times.
Mr Anwar later told media persons, “There was some technical problem in filing the nomination paper for me as my name was not in the voters list of the State which is required for contesting Assembly or Council polls” His name was in the voters list of Delhi, he added.
Later, senior Congress leader and party MLC Prem Chandra Mishra said, “Sameer Kumar Singh has been made party candidate for the MLC poll as there was some glitch in the candidature of Mr. Anwar... his name was not in the voters list of Bihar but in the voters list of Delhi, and according to rule, an MLC or MLA must have his name in the State’s voters list”.
The RJD, JD(U) and BJP candidates have filed their nomination papers for the poll. The RJD and JD(U) have put up three candidates, while the BJP has fielded two nominees.
Thursday was the last date for filing nomination papers. The poll was slated to be held in April but was delayed due to COVID-19.
